IT’S a measure of the man that after suffering a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the electorate, Labour group leader Bill Hartnett may have been beaten but he was unbowed.
Speaking on the morning after the night before when the Conservatives took all seven Labour seats – including his in Church Hill – and retained their grip on the remaining two, he said: “It was a shocker, a total shocker, but despite that I feel all right, I suppose.
“No one could believe the results and politicians from both sides of the chamber were surprised.
“But just look at what happened in the Hartlepool by-election where over 50 per cent of the vote went to the Tories, so I feel Redditch reflected the national trend.”
He acknowledged that the pandemic had played its part, restricting campaigning for all sides, although he felt the rapid vaccine roll out by the Government had played its part.
“Undoubtedly one of the factors that helped the Tories was the vaccine bounce so I don’t see it as a reflection on any of our local candidates or our manifesto.
“”These weren’t narrow defeats – in the last few elections, a vote here or there could have seen the council change hands but we were always just on the wrong side of the edge.
“This time round these were big majorities. Since Donald Trump and Brexit you just judge elections.”
He added that although democracy had delivered the result, reducing the Labour group to just four councillors, with one non-aligned and a 24 majority for the Conservatives was bad for the democratic process.
“It cannot be good and I’m not how it will play out without our checks and balances.
“However I’ve still got the same values, beliefs and principles and we will continue to fight for the residents of this town and its communities and we will be back next year.
“I also want to thank all the people who did vote Labour yesterday. We will be back.”
